School day

Wednesday

In separate Downtown galleries, OSU's Department of Art and Columbus College of Art & Design have brought out their best and brightest, shows of art created by school faculty.

In separate Downtown galleries, OSU's Department of Art and Columbus College of Art & Design have brought out their best and brightest, shows of art created by school faculty.

In addition to presenting what the talents guiding area students have been up to, since many of the participants keep individual exhibition schedules, the shows tend to work as capsule views of what's happening in museums and galleries locally and internationally.

With the faculty exhibitions within blocks of each other and weekend viewing hours available for both, it's easy to see everything in one day. Here are some highlights.

What: "CCAD 2008 Faculty Biennial"

When: Through Dec. 6

Where: Canzani Center Gallery, Discovery District

Web: ccad.edu

What you'll find: The CCAD show introduces itself with a sunny portrait of the new first family in the Oval Office by biennial regular Ron Anderson. Hanging close is Djahangir Pirasteh's delicious abstract Freedom.

If you find Tim Rietenbach's tiny, skeletal toy soldier Army Man frightening, chill out with a soothing video work by Richard Petry and Susan Van Pelt Petry or the possibility-filled, balloon-elevated wheelchair by Peter Rasmussen.

What: "OSU Department of Art Faculty Exhibition"

When: Through Jan. 10

Where: OSU Urban Arts Space, Downtown

Web: arts.osu.edu

What you'll find: Ken Rinaldo delivers a fascinating, mixed-media installation on the minutiae of wine making. Anne Hamilton suggests a ghost of human forms in the hard-sided outwear of Shell, next to Suzanne Silver's Deflated Painting, lying glossy and shapeless without a canvas on the floor.

Todd Slaughter's giant, metallicized fabric head forms both a self-portrait and "a sleeping/meditating sculpture/tent." Tony Mendoza achieves a different intimacy with portraits of Bob, his dog.

Mary Jo Bole manages to make cast-iron, Victorian-inspired funerary art seem soft and crafty, and Pheoris West adds vibrant color in a selection of figurative and abstract paintings.